Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to fiber optic connectors, ferrules that may be used with fiber optic connectors, and methods of manufacturing ferrules and connectors.
Ferrules in use today are often made of zirconia because zirconia ferrules tend to be particularly durable and the manufacturers can produce zirconia ferrules with high-precision dimensional tolerances at very low cost. The color of zirconia ferrules is generally a distinct glossy white and their overall appearance is generally the same, regardless of the manufacturer.
Mechanical polishing is typically used when manufacturing fiber optic connectors with ferrules and associated optical fibers because mechanical polishing is an industry-proven way to achieve a fiber and ferrule geometry that is compliant with current international standard specifications, such as having a fiber height of ±100 nm from the ferrule end face, depending on connector type and radius of curvature and apex offset. Mechanical polishing is also capable of removing excess epoxy on the end face.
One problem with zirconia ferrules is that the zirconia may not survive direct contact with high quantities of laser power. Contact with the laser beam may cause micro-cracking of the zirconia. Therefore it is generally difficult to laser process a short glass fiber protruding from the zirconia ferrule. As such, conventional laser-cut fibers have a significant length of the fibers protruding from the end face of a zirconia ferrule to prevent damage to the zirconia. This length is typically greater than 50 μm and since the industry standard for fiber protrusion is +/−100 nm, additional processing is typically needed.
A need exists for a ferrule system that facilitates laser processing of optical fibers at a close distance to the ferrule, such as a distance less than 50 μm from the end face of the ferrule.